2014 is turning out to be a big year for Emma Stone. She’s already had one big hit in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and has projects with Cameron Crowe and Alejandro González Iñárritu opening later this year. In between, she stars in Magic in the Moonlight, the latest from the prolific Woody Allen.

The Jazz Age dramedy stars Stone as a spirit medium who has won over a wealthy family in the South of France. Not everyone is totally convinced of her supernatural talents, though, and a stage magician (Colin Firth) is sent to debunk her. (So he’s a bit inspired by Harry Houdini, then?) Watch the first Magic in the Moonlight trailer after the jump.

Briefly: It will come as a surprise to no one that Sony Pictures Classics has picked up North American distribution rights to Woody Allen‘s new movie Magic in the Moonlight, and along with the announcement we’ve got the first plot details for the film. We’ve known that the cast features Emma Stone and Marcia Gay Harden (seen above) with Colin Firth, Eileen Atkins, Hamish Linklater, Simon McBurney, Jacki Weaver, Jeremy Shamos and Erica Leerhsen. Now we know what they’ll be doing.

Specifically, the Sony Classics announcement says “Magic in the Moonlight is a romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue. The film is set in the south of France in the 1920s against a backdrop of wealthy mansions, the Côte d’Azur, jazz joints and fashionable spots for the wealthy of the Jazz Age.”

There’s no release date for the film at this point, but a Cannes debut doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect.

The last few years have seen a great career upswing for Woody Allen, as his film Midnight in Paris helped re-ignite broad audience interest in his movies, and became his greatest commercial success. Blue Jasmine, starring Cate Blanchett, had a good run earlier this year, and now Allen is finishing his next film.

The new movie takes place in southern France and spans a couple of decades, roughly through the ’20s and ’30s. It stars Eileen Atkins, Colin Firth, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater, Simon McBurney, Emma Stone, and Jacki Weaver. Now the title has been revealed to be Magic in the Moonlight (cringe) and the first production stills have also been unveiled. That’s one, above, and there’s a good shot of Firth below. Read More »